Into the Shadows
by crstoffer
Summary: Shikamaru is just doing his best, Sasuke is trying to cope with the death of his brother, Ino's having problems with her body image, and well being a teenager was never easy. Their journey starts in the academy and takes them to the far reaches of Fiore. I swear this is not going to be one of those really terrible crossover fics I made a map of the world and everything


My first day at the academy and I was already bored. Not the best start but also what I expected. I mean what else was going to happen? I spend a majority of my days reading in a small space meant for one person, accompanied by only the figures my head had placed in substitute of the characters whose lives are infinitely more entertaining than anything Iruka was going to say anytime soon.

Iruka-sensei was passing out papers that he seemed pretty excited about, which didn't really mean anything good for the rest of us. According to that story I read a couple days ago, that I opened solely for the purpose of preparing myself for today, anyways.

So, if you've made it this far, I'm sure you've noticed that I think like my life is a book and like people are going to actually read it. You should just expect that from this point forward because this is the only form of thinking I've been exposed to and therefore the primary circulation of my thought process. You also may have noticed that I don't really want to be here. I've got a little spot in the back of the library that no one bothers me at and it is infinitely more interesting than this small, uncomfortable corner in a too big classroom surrounded by cheerful posters that are only really up to camouflage the serious nature of what we're going to be taught here. And, also, I just found the section for foreign languages that no one here can understand, so I have to learn entire tongues and dialects for these books to be appreciated properly (and yes they do have the books for that which strangely aren't a part of the masses collecting dust).

I take one glance towards the paper and I realize that this has never been what I wanted in my life. Who wants to spend their time answering questions about things we're about to be told not to tell? I mean, the whole premise of the life of the shinobi is secrecy or blood and we have to explain ourselves to the person teaching us this? It's ridiculous. It also looked kinda like this (with my 'answers' anyways. What? Did you expect me to tell the truth? Who's going to be seeing this anyways?):

1) What is your favorite color? Explain.

Green, because it's relaxing

2) Who is your best friend and why?

No one. I don't like talking

3) What did you do over the summer?

Absolutely nothing

4) What is your favorite pass time?

I like to watch the clouds

5) Who is your hero?

I don't have one

The real answers, for contrast or insight whichever you prefer, were really more like this:

1) What is your favorite color? Explain.

A sunset orange because it reminds me of when my mom and dad used to get along and they'd take me out to the lake together to watch the sunset. They don'tdo that anymore

2) Who is your best friend and why?

Ino, I can trust her with anything and she's basically my sister

3) What did you do over the summer?

I read the entire T-Z section of the library (I read fast okay?)

4) What is your favorite pass time?

I like to read and learn almost as much as I like to spend time with my dad

5) Who is your hero?

My dad, probably

Then, like an annoying alarm clock interrupting a good dream, Iruka-sensei's voice rang out, "Okay, now I'm going to call names randomly and when I call your name, you're going to come on up here and read your answers to the class."

Could he have said anything worse than that?

No. The answer is no.

I stand corrected, it could always be worse, either because the fires of Hell hadn't been enough or maybe the souls from Gehenna just couldn't swallow me in such a short period of time, Sensei said my name first.

So, anyways, I get up and try to look as casual as possible for the walk across the entire classroom, fully aware of the twenty some odd pairs of eyes following me. I have a hand in my pocket and I'm walking a little slouched, I'm pretty sure if I tried to walk like a normal human being, people would notice that I'm shaking, and my other hand is holding onto my paper (which is bent a little so it makes less noise) and I'm pretending that this kind of fear and paranoia isn't indicative of any particular mental issues. Although I made it to the front, I still felt like I was going to die so I mentally prepped myself for lying because now I'm in too far deep, if I say the truth instead and give him this paper he's going to know and that's worse than just pretending to be someone I'm not for a couple of years. I could picture my new lazy 'personality' waving goodbye to my real disposition for the foreseeable future. A nice, solid 'See ya later!' implied.

I look towards my sensei and ask, "So how am I supposed to do this?" Somehow my voice didn't come out wavering and wonky like I'd honestly expected it to, instead it sounded like I didn't give any nuggets towards the situation, which was probably a good thing. Oh god, wait, no, please tell me they're not laughing. I can't look up now. If I look up and they're laughing at me there is no redeeming myself, I will be forever stuck in this rut of 'no one will ever actually like me' which is not a good ditch to get stuck in, let me tell you. But Iruka just smiled.

"Just tell us your name, and your answers. Remember this is just an exercise to get to know each other, so you don't need to be uncomfortable."

Yea, that's easy for you to say, now Shikamaru you can do this, you're just reading, you do that all the time, "My name's Nara Shikamaru, my favorite color's ora-olive," my fingers started lacing themselves together, the ones in my pocket anyways, "green, I have a couple of friends but I wouldn't say that any one of 'em's my best friend," I glanced towards Ino, she had this look in her eyes that basically screamed 'I know you're lying', "I usually just watch the clouds and my hero is probably just nobody."

Sensei and the rest of the class, except for Ino, had this deadpan look on their faces and I hated myself for a minute their because of it, my only consolation being that they all hated this mask that I made on accident and not me. I handed my paper to Iruka-sensei, and did the same awkward but not shaky walk back to my desk with both hands in my pockets this time. Sensei drew the next name right as I sat down, "Uchiha Sasuke," and all I could do was try to focus on whatever he was going to say to get my mind off of the fact that I just fucked myself over for the next few years.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," well he seemed happy, "my favorite color is blue because it makes me happy, my best friend is definitely my brother, Itachi, who's also my hero, and I think my favorite thing to do is train with him."

And this went on for a while.

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, my favorite color's orange,"

"Ino Yamanaka, I think my dad's my hero,"

"Sakura Haruno, I really like," she giggled and glanced to the corner, that was it by the way there was no follow up.

"Kiba Inuzuka, Akimaru here's my best friend - Akimaru no peeing inside!"

Yada yada blah blah blah, whatever. It's lunch time now, no one's even paying attention anymore anyways.

A/N: Y'all know how it is, if it's good give me a review. I've had this one in my head for a couple of months, with plot lines and character development and chapter plans and stuff. Anyways, 1300 words! Love you guys, post again soon!


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